Christmas 2009

Here are a few pictures from Christmas this year, which was amazing! It's great to see Oden become so interactive with EVERYTHING that is Christmas. From baking cookies, to opening presents, to talking about Santa, he understood it all this year. We really had a lot of fun. Oden, was of course, spoiled rotten. I really think that he appreciated all of his gifts. He has played with everything he received! His favorite toy is his new Thomas the train table. He plays with it for hours everyday. As if we didn't need a bigger house already, now we really need some extra space (just for all of his toys)! We really had a great time with all of our family this year too. All of the Christmas parties were great, and the new traditions that we started will hopefully be lasting :) Thank you to everyone in each of our families for making this Holiday Season one to cherish forever!!

Oden in the coolest hat ever!!

Opening presents, by the end of them all he was a professional!

Riding his new tractor!!

The Thomas the train table!!!

Oden and Santa 2009

Oden went to visit Santa this past Sunday with Grandma DeeDee. Thank goodness she wanted to take him, otherwise he was just not going this year. Starting a couple of weeks ago, I had been trying to prepare him for any Santa encounters we might have this year. I bought him a Santa book and started reading it, and talking to him about Santa. He has a new obsession with sale flyers. He will find any flyer with a toy section, lay it out on the couch, point at what he wants (mainly trains or Handy Manny), put his hands together and say, "Please?" I started to tell him that he had to ask Santa please for the toys he wanted. Then he started pulling over our little rug with Santa on it, placing it next to the flyers, and saying please. It was so funny! I had to tell him not that Santa, the REAL Santa. Thankfully Oden is fully bribeable, for the most part. If you have candy, or tell him he can have something in exchange for good behavior, he will normally comply with your request. I told Grandma DeeDee about this, and suggested she used the bribery tactics. So she told him if he sat on Santa's lap they would go and get a Thomas train. She said he did good in the line, probably distracted by the kids and Christmas things. He held a sales flyer the whole time, to show to Santa. Then I guess the story goes, as soon as he got on Santa's lap he started balling! Poor Oden, he's just got ready for that scary, red guy yet! Then, Grandma DeeDee tried to go to the KayBeeToys in the mall and it was closed! She spotted a stand in the mall with a train in it, but it was for some stupid store that you have to order it and it comes in the mail. I guess Oden freaked out because he couldn't have it. She said it was a complete meltdown. They then headed for the toy section in Sears but found another stand where you could actually buy the Thomas toy presented and get it the same day. Overall, I think it was a fun experience for all involved. I think Oden even believes it was worth it, he has been attached to his new toy for the last 3 days. :) Maybe if I start preparing him now, by next year we might actually get a picture of him (and his sibling) smiling!

Christmas Monkey

As brutal as winter has been already, it has also brought some great Oden moments. This is the first year where we can actually talk to Oden about what's going on and he understands. From Christmas decorations, to the snow outside, he gets very excited about all of these seemingly new things. A couple of weeks ago when it first snowed at night, Oden and I were out visiting friends. We happened to walk outside as it started to snow pretty good and Odee shouted out with glee, "OOOOHHHH!!" To which I replied, "Yeah, pretty snow!" It was such a cute moment. Then I let him touch the powdery snow on our car. He looked and me bright eyed and said, "COLD!" It was such a cute moment. I will never forget it. He is also doing surprisingly well with the Christmas decorations. His only real interest is the Shrek candy canes on the tree. He is pretty much obsessed with Shrek, so when we saw these candy canes at the store I knew he would freak if I even attempted to put them back. I think he appreciated that purchase and my understanding, he held the box all day before we put them on the tree. This Christmas season has already been so exciting and memorable, I cannot wait to see what new memories the coming weeks will bring. I'm not sure if we will be taking him to see Santa this year. Two hours in a line at the mall for a $20 picture of Oden screaming his head off hardly seems worth the effort, or the trauma!! But we will see....

Here are some pictures of Oden in my favorite Christmas jammies ever! My baby monkey in baby Christmas monkey pajamas!!

Oden kissing his Christmas moose.....
.....Oden deciding the moose looks tasty.

Turkey Day 2009

I know I can speak for all of us when I say, we were very thankful to have such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year!

Our schedule of jumping from house to house this year worked out perfectly. I felt like we had a chance to spend quality time with all of our families. On Monday we went for a little Thanksgiving at my Mom's house. That was nice, and convenient for us because it meant one less place we had to rush to on actual Thanksgiving Day. So then on Thanksgiving, we started at Grammy Mary and Grandpa Scott's house. Grammy made an absolutely delicious breakfast for us! It was a breakfast of champions! Then we all gathered around the TV and watched the parade in New York. No one was in a rush, which was a really nice change. After that we went to Uncle Mike and Aunt Linda's house to hang out with the family and Grandpapa Joe and Grandmama Laura. They laid out a feast for kings! The food was so good, Jess was a little upset when it was time to leave. From there we headed to our final destination, Grampa and Gramma Dee Dee's! It was nice to see a bunch of my family that we don't get a chance to see often enough. And of course it was nice to get some of the Furr Family's famous Giblet gravy! YUMMY! By the end of a couple of hours there we were all exhausted!! But, It was overall a fabulous day!

We are so so thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives. We love our families so much, it's hard to put it into words. Each one of you brings such a special light into our lives, we would be lost without you. Thank you, for just being you. And thank you for loving us so unconditionally. WE ARE SO LUCKY!!!

Oden in his folding table fort.....

Trying to get some new profile pictures for Grammy.....

Save me Grandmama!!

Our second annual family pic at the beautiful Hogan house.

It was worth the wait, I hope!

I am very sorry that I haven't updated the blog in a while. We have been very busy, and I think you will understand if you can make it through this blog!

For those of you who have not yet heard, we discovered about 3 weeks ago that Oden will have a sibling mid-June 2010. We are very excited! I remember my pregnancy with Oden being mildly difficult. In comparison to how I'm feeling so far in this pregnancy, it's not really comparable at all. I'm miserable. My exhaustion has hit record levels. I try to save all my energy for Oden everyday. Everything else gets put on the back burner. This blog has been saved as a draft 3 times already!

Oden is doing great! Although, We did have a scare with him a little over a week ago. It was Tuesday the 20th. Oden woke up and was just not himself. He pretty much layed around all day (this NEVER happens). From the morning on, I noticed he had a fever. It was around 101-102 on our thermometer. I was in contact with the doctors office several times throughout the day, and they basically said to monitor it, give him aspirin, and if the fever reached 103 to take him to the ER. We decided to try to run some errands after his first dose of Tylenol. After about 15 minutes in the car, he puked everywhere!!! It was so horrible. So when we got home after that, I did not feel like the medicine was helping his fever subside. He took a nap, that was longer than normal and then took his temp again. This time I compared Oden's temperature to Jess's temperature, Jess's temp was 95.6, and Oden's was 101.7. We thought that his breathing had gotten somewhat shallow so at that point, we decided it was time to go to the Emergency Room. When we arrived, we were given a mask to put over his little face and about a minute after that the nurse came over to check his breathing and ask about his symptoms. They took him straight back to admittance where his temp was 102.9 (I had given him Tylenol 1 hour before), he continued by freaking out and puking everywhere. All over his clothes, but thankfully into a garbage can also. They got all of us into a private room where they gave him a suppository, a steroid shot, a breathing treatment, followed by a series of tests. He was swabbed through the nose a couple of times, and then he had chest x-rays. By this time, Grandpa Joe, Grandma Laura, and Auntie Maggie had arrived with new clothes for Odee and some emotional support for all of us. After about 3 hours of being there, Oden started to perk up. He was running around the room, causing chaos as usual so we decided it was time to go. They prescribed us a bunch of medicine as well as a nebulizer. By the next afternoon, he was 100% better! Thank goodness! It wasn't the swine flu! He has had no symptoms since :)

Halloween this year was amazing! Oden went dressed as a monkey. I decided this because I call him my crazy monkey all the time! He was so cute. We were able to visit almost everyone (Sorry Grammy and Grandpa Scott!), and Oden was loving it. He didn't mind his costume at all, which really surprised me. We ended up taking him trick or treating at Grandpa Joe and Grandma Laura's house. It was very cold, but we were able to go to a few houses. He can't say trick or treat yet but he said, "PLEASE?" for almost every house. After the first house he sat on the ground beside his wagon in awe of the candy in his little bucket. Then, at the 5th house he got a Blow Pop sucker. This was his favorite treat!! We just started letting him have dum dum suckers every once in a while, so to him, this was the king of suckers!! He was thrilled!! He was pretty much done after he got that one, he chewed on the stick all the way back to the house. He also got to meet his newest cousin! Little Taylor Rose (only 6 weeks old) came to visit in her little pumpkin costume. Whenever she was out of sight, Oden would run around saying, "BayBee!" It was the most memorable Halloween yet!

Also, Jess and I got engaged on Halloween! He came home after work on Saturday and told Oden to bring me something. Oden was being slightly bratty so Jess had to continue his proposal without Oden's help. After a very touching speech and a few tears, I accepted whole heartedly. We will be setting a date very soon! So you see, we have been busy bees!! I will try my hardest to keep up on the blog from now on.


Here are some pictures from this Halloween season:

Oden did so good holding his little basket!

Trick or treating with Dad

Enjoying a Halloween treat.....Cheetos!!

Helping sort the candy for Grandma

He still remembers his baby toys

Working out with Grampa DeeDee!

My baby monkey!

Fun at the pumpkin patch

Of course he would fins the only train sign! LOL! We went on a train ride too!

Hi, Dora!

GO!! Having fun with Gramma DeeDee!

He's always on the move!

He was no help finding pumpkins, he just wanted to run.

KITTY!

A moment to catch my breath......

We have been keeping very busy the last couple of weeks! Here are some brand new pictures of some of the fun things we have been doing. All I have to say is, I am one tired Mom!!

My friend Kelly and I, took our boys to this Bouncin' Bonkers place. It's a place just filled with those bouncy things you usually find rented in backyards. It was fun, but I think Oden is still a little too young to fully enjoy it. It was more like a crazy exercise for me!

Rylan and Oden tearing it up in the tunnels!

Get off that dirty floor you crazy kid! Well.....wait until I take your picture!

A beautiful day at the park with Gramma Dee Dee.....

.......and Maddie! Swingin Buddies

A day at the park with Uncle Mikey.

He helps sooooo much!

Oden in my favorite shirt of his, ever!

Yogurt is Yummy!

I thought I would share with everyone Oden feeding himself yogurt for lunch. This is not a typical lunch, but he didn't drink much milk this morning so I was trying to up his protein for the day. He does not have much experience feeding himself with utensils. I blame myself completely for his inexperience. I would rather take the time to feed him myself than clean up the mess, that would inevitably be EVERYWHERE! That being said, I am putting in much more of an effort to let him have some independence with feeding. With the added hope that if he is feeding himself with new exciting tools, he might try (and like) more things! This video is really cute though :) and I am so thankful that he likes yogurt!

Stuff from my phone

Here are some random cuteness that I remembered I have on my phone. A couple of them are from the beginning of the summer and the others are more recent. The quality is poor, but I know you will appreciate them anyways :)

He has been doing this all summer.....he stands in front of this baby pool at my moms, yells "GO!", and jumps in head first. It's hilarious!

This was a very random day this summer. We went for a walk with Heather and he had to have his stethoscope around his neck, and he actually kept his Sponge Bob sunglasses on!

This picture is part of his morning routine. He comes down first thing, runs over to his toys, grabs his Thomas box, and plays with/lines up all of his trains. Have I mention obsessed?!

I just took this one a couple of days ago. This is the little girl I am now watching two days a week, Maddie. I had a couple of new candles out and they were taking turns smelling them.

It was adorable!

This video is from when Jess got a new cell phone. Oden is always all up in our electronics, so as soon as he saw Dad's new phone he had to see ALL of it. Look for his little squatting dance!

A Day Out With Thomas

Today was our day out with Thomas. This is something Tiff and I had been looking forward to taking Odee to for a long time. As the event neared closer I became increasingly more excited for it to finally be here. I was anxious for the look on his face as he witnessed his hero in the flesh. To provide some sort of a backdrop, if any of you are unaware of our little man, then you will have to know of his obsession with our friend Rev. W Awdry and what he has created out of narration and cleverly designed model trains. His name is Thomas and he is what Odee dreams of. From toys to clothes, cups to lunchboxes, he is everywhere our guy is. If there ever was a smug look upon Odee's face just find some sort of Thomas oriented trinket and his frown will immediately turn upside down. Thomas and Friends is to little boys what the spring training football, baseball in October, and the NHL/NBA playoffs push, is to grown men, what shopping, Jon & Kate Plus 8, and cherries covered in chocolate are to grown women. This is the mecca of little boys everywhere. So, on the day of I wanted to wake up with our baby hawk and start his day off right. This is a Friday, and my excitement for his excitement, prompted me to take a personal day from work. He's in a great mood and looking forward to his toast and fruit to energize his tiny body. After a quick munch session, a dose of Sid the Science Kid and Sesame Street, a good morning from his beautiful mother, and he is ready to get going. We all head up to straighten ourselves out and pack up for the trek ahead, next stop Union, Illinois. The jeep is gased and were buckled in, heading up north. Again mom chooses to use yahoo directions and we are immediately guessing which way to go. You see, yahoo likes to name streets the names they feel they should have, this makes following them very tricky. However, moms keen sense of direction quickly guides us towards our destination. The trip to Union was very pleasant, it was a very scenic route that took us through areas we had never been, this breathe of new places always seems invigorating to the imagination and put us all in the right mood for the day. We arrived forty five minutes before departure and took our time making it to the train. As we neared closer to dreams come true, I could feel the pleasure inside our baby. Then as we came walking down the path, there he was, right before his eyes, it was him... Thomas. The sheer enjoyment that poured from his soul was enough to see what dreams our made from. He was happy, genuine and sincere, just plain and simple happy. I wanted to be detailed to remind everyone and myself when I read this when I'm old, that the small things in life, that we cherish with the ones we love, those memories will be with us forever, so make them. The rest of our day was filled with memories that all three of us will have for the rest of our lives. We rode on Thomas, Odee got his first tattoo (removable, moms), had a wonderful picnic in the grass, and saw lots and lots of trains. It was at an interesting venue, the Illinois Railway Museum, and this was a fascinating place for a family to visit, especially on day out with Thomas. By the time we were ready to leave we had seen it all, Sir Toppam Hatt, the trains, trolleys, the whole kit and caboodle. He was sleeping within five minutes of our trip home, but I knew... he was dreaming of Thomas.

Above story by Jess. All I can say is....I wish Jess would write on here more often. What a great way to sum up our wonderful day :) Now I will add some not so cleverly worded captions on the pictures.

A life-size Thomas! That's something you don't see everyday!

Our first view of Thomas!

Yay for nice people also patiently waiting for their ride.

Odee's 1st train ride!!

Odee getting his first tattoo!

So amazed that Thomas was on his arm!!

It was a little hot, but well worth the slight discomfort.

Dad and Odee in a train graveyard, not really. The back of the Museum.

Exhausted from his adventure with Thomas, Dad, and Mom.